X-Ray Driven Planar Target*

Lasing at $\sim $ 4.45 keV has been observed in a series of experiments\footnote{Borisov A. B. \textit{et. al.}, J. Phys B, \textbf{41}, 105602, (2008).} in which an intense ultrashort KrF laser pulse was incident on a collection of small Xe clusters. Extensive modeling and simulation corroborate these findings.\footnote{Petrova Tz., \textit{et. al.}, J. Phys B, \textbf{43}, 025602, (2010); \textbf{44}, 125601 (2011).} In this talk we investigate the interaction of an intense 4.45 keV x-ray pulse with a gold target. A robust non-LTE model is assembled to investigate the ionization physics and population dynamics of the gold target. We will focus on the absorption physics of the incident coherent x-ray pulse interacting with the gold target in order to evaluate the ionization states and excited state populations reached during the interaction. Both the early time and the late time phenomenology will be studied to determine the radiation characteristics and behavior of the x-ray emission from the gold target.